Well, i got this day old sussex chick a while back and she really turned out to be quite the looker!! I recently got into chicken'ing this may and wanted to start turning profit on a few things in mid to late summer 2010. As of now i want to focus on selling fertile hatching eggs "and possibly chicks seeing i get enough request's" Right now i have 5 hen's that lay us our eggs to eat, 2 WBS silkies, 2 MFD bantys, 2 polish, susex pullet and a Buff O pullet and a clutch of cross banty babies that im experimenting on lol. My breeding goal is this

Now that to me is a lot of breeding pen's!! lol But i gotta do something with my time in the summer. Also i need to start my BM D'uccle's...i don't even have one chick yet lol. So finally to my question, judging by how "pretty" i think my speckled sussex is, do you think "as a turning profit stand point" would i be better off/make more money i started and sold fertile sussex hatching eggs or started and sold French Black Copper Maran fertile hatching egg's?? Now to me right off the bat i think the money will be with the FBCM's, but they will take me a little longer to start since i have none. Then again i guess if i got some speckled sussex chick's i would have to wait until the rooster got old enough to breed. Also tho i think FBCM hatching egg's are more in demand than speckled sussex eggs i would imagine...but's that's just me assuming. I guess i just want you all to take a look at my pullet and tell me what you think. I just hate not putting a good girl like my sussex to good use, im sure her eggs will taste great, but i think she could really give people some great chicks. From a money stand point tho, i think im leaning towards the FBCM'S. I would love to look for some adult birds of both these breeds near me and buy them, problem is i have not found any yet. WHEW!! Im going to go ahead and stop right here, this was on my mind the last few day's and i had to vent/ get advise or i was going to go nut's thinking about it all the time. lol thanks for reading and i can't wait to hear all of your opinion's.

You more than likely won't be looking at making much if any money this coming summer off of your birds. The money you'll spend to get good quality breeding stock and grow them to maturity and then cull the ones who aren't up to par will pretty much eat any "profit".

Your sussex has too much white on her so she wouldn't really be the best one to start your breeding program with.

Quote:too much white? hmm i thought she had just enough white. i've seen sussex with next to no spot's and thought they looked horrible, but i suppose that's not standard to the breed if my hen has TOO much white.

Take a look on Feathersite and other similar for pictures of SQ / BQ Speckled Sussex and you'll see what Katy means. The mille fleur pattern is infuriatingly difficult to get 'right' and those of us with Speckled Sussex that we had 'high hopes' for in the breeding stakes more often than not are left frustrated by the lack of uniformity.

She's a pretty little pullet, but she's got way too much white on her. If you're serious about getting a start at breeding them you should get the APA standard and read up on how they should look. Then you'll know what you need to be looking for and culling for in your breeding stock.

Unless she is a bantam: she also looks too small to me. However, I understand that pictures can be deceiving.

Any breeding program should involve several hens and cocks to preserve genetic diversity. There is no way you can get enough hatching eggs to sell from one hen no matter what she looks like. More than likely you are looking at an egg every other day. Thus, you could never get a dozen together in time to ship and be hatched.

I send hatching eggs, chicks and adult stock all over the country. I consider my operation a hobby and quite small: I run around 350 breeders that does include several breeds, but you also named several breeds too.